Previous

Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess”

“My Last Duchess” appeared in Dramatic Lyrics, the same 1842 collection that contained “Porphyria’s Lover.” These are the two most famous and influential of Browning’s dramatic monologues, and they both feature sinister speakers that are worth considering side by side.

Coleridge’s Poetry

Coleridge is an important poet to consider, and some of his work may be understood as precursors to Browning’s dramatic monologues. Alongside his compatriot, William Wordsworth, Coleridge helped to revive the lyric tradition for a new era. But Coleridge fascination with weird, eerie, and supernatural phenomena made him different from Wordsworth. Poems like “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” link the first-person speaker of the lyric tradition with the supernatural in a way that prefigures the unreliable narration of Browning’s speakers.

Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

Brontë’s 1847 novel features one of the most iconic Romantic heroes of all time. Also known as the “Byronic hero” after the poet Lord Byron, the Romantic hero is characterized by a gloomy, misanthropic disposition and a preference for self-isolation. In Heathcliff, Brontë created a Romantic hero of enduring fame. If you want to understand the trope that inspired the sullen and isolated speaker of Browning’s poem, you’d do well to read Wuthering Heights.

Previous section Historical and Literary Context

Take a Study Break